Nothing Burns Like a Memory
by LittleRedOne
Summary: Those burns will come and those burns will go. They’ll fade until they’re just a thing of the past.


**A/N:** Quick thanks for LaPaige, who read this over for me. She's amazing and a great confidence booster.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any characters or place you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

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Fierce sunburn with skin _so_ red it looks unrealistic? Sure, why not?

Ridiculously _hot_ steam? Not a problem.

_Boiling_ hot liquid dumped on me? Yeah, I'll take it.

Hold my hand on a _scalding_ stove top? You betcha!

Take a stroll through a _flaming_ building? I'll meet you on the other side!

Those burns will come and those burns will go. They'll fade until they're just a thing of the past.

Throw that memory at me though – that one I can't get out of my head no matter what I do – and I won't be so easy going.

"_Look," she sighed, sitting on the loveseat across from me, a coffee table creating a barrier between us. "I love you, but I can't – I can't do this anymore."_

"_What do you _mean_ you can't do this anymore?" I asked, my mood stuck somewhere between anger and confusion._

"_Something's not right between us and I don't want to marry you if things are wrong."_

"_Are you being serious right now? Cause this is a terrible joke if you're not."_

_She nodded sadly. "I'm serious Nate. This is it for us, the end of our road."_

"_But… why? What happened? What's not right?"_

_She sighed and I could tell she really didn't want to have to explain this, but I wasn't letting her go with out at least one good reason – or at all if I could help it. We were getting married in two months. Two! And here she tells me it's not right? Is she serious? I don't want to give her up. _

"_Nate, there's," she hesitated, "there's some trust issues between us right now."_

"_You don't trust me?" I burst out, eyes wide in shock. "How could you not trust me? I've never done anything to betray you. I've given you no reason to doubt me, not even a little."_

"_Nate." I ignored her._

"_I never even went anywhere questionable unless you were there with me for the past year since we moved in together!"_

"_Nate," she spoke louder._

"_And now you don't trust me? What kind of crap is that?"_

"_Nate!" she screamed, silencing me. She took a deep breath, looking me in the eyes. "I never said _I_ didn't trust _you_."_

"_Wait! You think _I_don't trust you?" I asked incredulously._

"_Will you just let me speak?" she snapped._

_I glared, but nodded._

"_I know you trust me. And I trust you."_

"_Then I don't see the problem," I said, throwing my hands in the air._

"_Remember the 'let me talk' thing Nate. Yeah, we're still on that."_

_I nodded reluctantly and shut my mouth._

"_The problem," she drawled, "is that I don't trust me."_

"_What do you mean?" I asked genuinely confused. She didn't trust herself? Why wouldn't she trust herself?_

"_Look Nate, I'm trying to make this easy and you're making it hard."_

"_I just want to know what happened, why you don't want to be with me anymore. We were aiming for forever remember?"_

"_Nate," she sighed, sounding suddenly tired. "Just stop asking questions. My mind won't change and you're making it far more difficult then you need to. Let's just keep it simple. We aren't getting our forever. So yell at me and hate me if you have to. I wouldn't blame you."_

"_No!" I said firmly. "You're going to tell me why. Why don't you trust yourself? I need reasons."_

"_Because!" she yelled, throwing her hands in the air. "Because I don't deserve your trust!"_

"_Of course you do!" I yelled back._

"_That's the thing, I don't though! I've broken it! So stop giving me it," she said breathing heavily._

_I froze and when I finally spoke my voice was quiet. "What to you mean you've broken it?"_

_She looked away, not answering._

"_Caity, what do you mean?"_

_She turned to me and her eyes looked sad, apologetic._

"_No," I shook my head. "You're joking right?"_

"_I'm sorry Nate," she looked down. "I really am. I'm going to move back in with my parents for a bit until I get my own place. I'll come for the rest of my stuff tomorrow."_

_She got up to leave and I just stared after her, wishing that hadn't just happened. It was once the door was shut behind her that I reacted again. In a second I was across the room and ripping the door open. The elevator doors were just closing behind her and I ripped the door to the stair well open. I raced down each step, hoping to beat her down and cursing the fact we lived on the fifth floor. That wouldn't have been a problem if she just let us move in to our house before we got married, but no, she just had to insist on the apartment. My luck was with me as I reached the bottom floor just as the elevator doors were opening, many more passengers on it then before._

"_Caitlyn!" I called desperately, unfortunately getting the whole group's attention._

_She looked at me sadly and shook her head, walking towards the door. I could see all the all our neighbors watching. Caitlyn and I hadn't fought once in the year we'd lived there. We were the cheery, friendly neighbors._

"_Just tell me one more thing Caitlyn. One thing!" I begged. She froze with her hand on the door, turning her upper body to face me slowly. "Who was it?"_

"_Nate," she sighed._

"_Who Caity? I need to know."_

_Her eyes flashed to the onlookers before facing the door again. "Derek," she said clearly before opening the door and walking away, not once looking back._

_The name repeated in my head. Derek. Derek, her co-worker. Derek, my co-worker. Derek, the guy I trusted to spend time with my fiance. I sunk to the floor, resting my back against the wall and put my head in my hands. I didn't looked up, I didn't want to see the sympathetic faces which were surely staring at me. I stayed there, head in my hands until hours later when Shane showed up and forced me to the elevator, having heard what happened from Mitchie._

That was two years ago and I still couldn't get rid of the memory. I still have the stupid apartment with the pitying neighbors. I still own the unlived in house we were supposed to move in to after our wedding. I didn't hate Derek anymore, but Caitlyn wasn't high on my list. I had gone from sad, crushed to angry and bitter. I tried so hard to get rid of the memory. It hasn't worked yet. That's when I realized, I'd take any burn you can give me, because nothing burns like a memory.

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**A/N:** I've got no idea where this came from, let's blame the four hours of sleep yeah? Cool. I swear one of these days I'll write a hapy Naitlyn. Everything Naitlyn I've written is breaking up and pretty much makes Caitlyn the bad guy.


End file.
